German equivalent of "Jack of all trades"

Question

A person known as Jack of all trades is defined as:

competent in many skills, but not necessarily outstanding in any particular one

How do you call (if it exists) a person like that in German?

Answer 1

It will depend. Let's not forget, the full expression usually is

Jack of all trades, master of none

There is no single expression to convey this exact meaning in German. "Hansdampf in allen Gassen" was mentioned already, depending on context one might also use Allrounder, Generalist, Universalist, Alleskönner, Tausendsassa or Mädchen für alles. None of these expressions has the slightly condescending meaning ("master of none") of the English original, though.

Wikipedia suggests ...

Kenner allen Handwerks – und Meister von keinem.

... but I'm not really sure about that.

Answer 2

In a business environment competent colleagues are sometimes called

„Allrounder“.

This term is quite popular in this context, as many job listings suggest.

Sometimes people competent in many skills are referred to as

„Allzweckwaffe“ (universal weapon, e.g. „Er/Sie ist unsere Allzweckwaffe.“),

especially when it comes to sports.

An old-fashioned word is

„Tausendkünstler“.

Duden - Das Herkunftswörterbuch (2nd ed.) points towards an origin in the 16th century with the meaning „skilled in many arts“ and then sometimes used to refer to the devil himself.

You could also use

„Alleskönner“

or

„Tausendsassa“

where the latter IMHO has a certain infantile aspect and thus seems more appropriate for skilled children („Er/Sie ist ein kleiner Tausendsassa.“)

Answer 3

Das wäre IMHO wohl "Hansdampf in allen Gassen".

Answer 4

The two words Multitalent and Universalgenie come to mind, where the latter implies that the person described in that way is really, really good in many fields.

Answer 5

I don't know any idiom that corresponds to that, but what came to mind first is:

Kann alles[or vieles], aber nichts (wirklich) richtig[or gut].

Answer 6

Er ist unser Schweizer Taschenmesser.

Means he has lots of abilities, but to a slight degree it’s also derogative (not a real screwdriver/knife/hammer/saw, so not useful for specialized work).

All the other terms have a different meaning.

This would be the same for a product instead of a person:

eierlegende Wollmilchsau

Answer 7

A wonderful word for a person who is competent in many skills is also the "Faktotum". Which was also used in English since the 16th centure, but was later replaced by the use of jack of all trades (see the german Wikipedia for more information).

Answer 8

Since "Jack of all trades" is not the most serious of expressions:

Experte für eh fast alles

You might hear that in Austria and Bavaria, not so much in northern Germany. It captures the meaning rather accurately, with a tad bit of irony - since, obviously, nobody can possibly be an expert for everything.

Wunderwuzzi

Even more ironic than the first with a touch of comical expression. Somebody who just works wonders on things in mysterious ways. The speaker may or may not believe in it.

Hans Dampf in allen Gassen

Also not used in formal language, somewhat theatrical and obsolescent, it stresses the involvement in many affairs and the energy behind it, more than the actual competence in all of them.

Zu allem fähig, aber zu nichts zu gebrauchen.

Would be at the other end of the spectrum: somebody with many skills and abilities ("zu allem fähig"), but just not reliable ("aber zu nichts zu gebrauchen") - not actually useful for anything.
It fits "Jack of all trades, master of none", but more extreme on both ends.

Meister aller Klassen

That last one is a bit more serious but still not a 100 percent. It stresses the greatness and superiority of the subject, right next to a superhero, just a real one.

Answer 9

Summarizing and extending answer of the best pre-existing answers:
Order with best and most common wordings first (subj., but native speaker of "Hochdeutsch" :-)

Positive connotation:

• Multitalent, maybe most common and general wording

• Tausendsassa (coll.), very positive, e.g. a compliment

• Generalist, neutral (no fixed connotation without context)

• Alleskönner (coll.), mostly positive, if not extended or ironic, see below

• Universalgenie, e.g. Leonardo da Vinci, not so often used for "normal" people, but possible, if high capability in distinct areas is observed. Of course, "Genie" is much above the engl. "specialist" or "pro".

• "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (positive or negative depends on context. Not perfect, because primarily for things, but can be used- e.g. I used it once personally, searching for a word for this)

• "Schweizer Taschenmesser"- not at all common for persons, but everyone would understand a sentence like "Er ist das Schweizer Taschenmesser unter unseren Programmierern". I would not see a negative connotation without context.

Negative connotation for ( '– and master of none'):

• There exists not really a fixed and common wording in German for this. You need further text / context. Examples here:

  "Er kann alles, aber nichts richtig."

  "Er kann von allem ein bisschen, aber nichts wirklich gut."

  "Er ist ein Generalist, aber nirgendwo Spezialist."

  "Er glaubt, er ist ein Alleskönner."

  "Er ist ein Alleskönner, aber kein Profi."

  "Zu allem fähig, aber zu nichts zu gebrauchen." (sarcastic, special second negative connotation, 'can cause adverse events' or so, see my comment above.)

• "Hansdampf in allen Gassen" (a good verbatim translation from English, but in fact, rarely used, and it describes more someone, who is "everywhere" than someone who is able of "everything")

Answer 10

One Translation may be Eierlegende Wollmilchsau.

It describes someone or something which can do many things.

Word for word it means something along the lines of "Pig which lays eggs, gives milk and has wool".

It is more commonly used in Southern Germany (I learned of that term in Munich, but I rarely hear it up North).

Funny side note: Google Translate translates it directly to "Jack of all trades".

Answer 11

In Yiddish at one time we had a “Jörgel” (pronounced Järgel) who was a master craftsman of multiple skills. The story goes that during the reign of Catherine the Great, her advisor (and sometime lover) Graf Potemkin had the plan to exploit Jewish Enterprise to help modernise Russia. He had a modern weaving mill set up in the Jewish village of Dobrovna, and brought in German experts to teach the Jews how to use the machinery. Apparently one of them was named Jörg and he made a great impression on the Jews, because for at least the next hundred and fifty years, an expert in technical matters was called a Jörgel, at least in the local area.

As for Potemkin’s plans for modernization, they did not come to fruition. The Jews were suspicious of the government’s intentions and did not wish for their children to be drawn away from the religious traditions by the allures of the modern world. So they restricted the factory to the manufacture of religious wear such as prayer shawls. That way they could tell themselves they were just doing God's work.

I know this answer is not exactly on topic, but it’s a pretty good story and I really wanted to tell it. Yiddish has another word for an expert: a berye, which comes from the Hebrew. Theoretically it is gender-neutral but it is most often applied to women in praise of their multiple talents ("beryeschkeit") as homemakers: cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, and as often as not running the family store while her husband studied the Torah. Perhaps men were not expected to be multi-talented in the old world: they apprenticed into a single trade, and were expected to stick to that.

Perhaps the use of a Hebrew source for the “jack-of-all-trade” concept further re-inforces the point that there was not necessarily a ready German equivalent, at least not during the formative period (1200-1600?) when Yiddish was drawing most heavily on German sources.

EDIT: In response to the comment by "syntaxerror": Yes, the Potemkin Villages were indeed created as showpieces for the future of Russia; we can infer from the quoted expression that they did not fulfill their promise. Here is the description (from my original source) of what Potemkin did with the sleepy hamlet of Dobrovna:

“Potemkin hât gebaut a schöene stadt, mit grõsse mark-plätzer, mit breite gassen, mit krâmen, mit freie, geraume häuser, mit fabriken vun drap un gewand, vun séigers (watches), vun schwebellach, un hât eingeführt a druck mit Jüdische oysiyos (letter type). Hât gebracht meister-spezialisten vun ausland. Dann hât er gebracht zu führen vun Moskveh säck mit spielereien un zuckerkehs, un flegt séi alle Suntag warfen auf dem neuen mark far die pauerim (bauers, peasants) mit séire kindr, k’dei (in order that) einzugewöhnen séi gehen aher.